conscience:
how the Hell does
that integrate with
the patterns
of History?

I asked this question
but (cinema cliche) found
myself flash-backed
to this
pre-me still floundering
ideologically in
childhood

crayoning a stupendous narrative
of a strident intergalactic
warrior hero, leveling his
laser blaster at some
bug eyed alien
somewhat averse
to the planting of
the flag of Union at
the heart of his planet

and here in Mahikeng
few echoes of that Empire
hard to hear the whisper
of old colonial ghosts
beyond the
names of streets

same in Durban, where
Victorian Englishmen plotted
the demise of the Zulus

stoked up
monstrous revenge for the
disaster of Isandlwana

those bleak patterns
of power and conquest
hard as dark rock
that the
gold lies so
deep under